Chemistry: from health to energy – the topics on the agenda at the industrialists’ meeting

At Monday’s annual meeting at The Mall in Milan, chemical industry executives will certainly have no shortage of topics to discuss, ranging from energy costs and the ETS scheme to red tape, the loss of production capacity in Europe and the ever-increasing aggressiveness of Chinese competitors. This set of issues threatens not only the industrial presence in Italia and Europe, but also the very survival of the welfare state that has characterised these societies to date – a state largely underpinned by the manufacturing sector. And when we talk about manufacturing, we cannot fail to mention the chemical industry, given that the sector is present in 95 per cent of manufactured goods and, with a turnover of 60 billion euros and over 117,000 highly skilled employees, is the country’s fifth-largest industry. In Europe, Italia is the third-largest producer.

If we look at production, the year will end – in line with the forecasts of recent months – on a negative note, and we will have to wait until 2027 to see a slight positive trend. During this period of major transformation, the president of Federchimica, Francesco Buzzella, will bring together industry leaders to listen to their views and champion their concerns, whilst also taking advantage of the presence of Confindustria President Emanuele Orsini and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. The issues still at the centre of the debate remain energy costs and schemes such as the ETS, which – even after the European Parliament’s approval of more free allowances – continue to pose a serious threat to the competitiveness of the chemical industry. This is all the more so given that competition from China is becoming increasingly fierce.

To put the sector into its national, European and international context, the Federchimica assembly will open with messages from the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. Following speeches by Minister Tajani and Mr Orsini, there will also be messages from the Minister for Enterprise and ‘Made in Italy’, Adolfo Urso, and the Minister for the Environment, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin. The day will conclude with a round-table discussion entitled ‘Industry, health, energy: Which Europe?”, featuring Ilaria Capua, Professor and Senior Fellow of Global Health at Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe; Davide Tabarelli, President of Nomisma Energia; and Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, Chair of the Senate’s EU Policy Committee.